Doomguy was glad that he was able to get back in action after whatever amount of time it has been ever since he's been imprisoned. Anyone would rather kill their opposition than be stuck in a box until you're needed again. So far, the Grimm have been coming to him instead of him going to the Grimm. He doesn't exactly know why but it does leave some pedestrians out of harms way. He was leaving the current village when he suddenly heard another news reading.

"...if you encounter someone wearing green armor with a mischievous symbol on the top left of their head, avoid immediately. This person is..." The Slayer droned off. On and on and on. He'd rather be alone after all, but he hated the way media portrayed vigilantes. Just villains who do good things. No wonder why they both started with "V".

He didn't have a plan yet. For the past couple of months he just let the Grimm come to him but he was starting to doubt that there was an end, just like the demons. He would have to wait and see for a few more weeks. But his current goal right now was to get his weapons back. Not that it wasn't difficult to kill stuff right now, but fighting a Deathstalker with only a shotgun, chainsaw, armblade and a couple of grenades with a flamethrower can be time consuming. Time that he has but does not want to waste, especially with people dying every day to the Grimm. There was also another problem. The White Fang. He hasn't dealt with rebellion from something other than monsters, or demons, so it was going to be a weird experience fighting actual people.

He had no leads on where his weapons have gone. They were all over the place back in Hell, Earth, or Mars. Here should be easier. He'd heard that Atlas was a kingdom with the most technology, so some of his weapons must've landed there. But first through a town called Strayhold.

-/

Strayhold... was burnt?

Strayhold apparently was burnt down to the ground. All of the houses were charred black and the roads, too. The only thing that had the slightest bit of colour to it were the trees but those were starting to die as well. The Slayer ran quickly into the town to see if there were any survivors. From the look of things, everyone was dead. But from the sound of things he could hear groaning from the weaponsmith's place. That was the next thing he needed to check out.

Once he got inside he saw the weaponsmith groaning on the front table. He must've noticed the Slayer's enter, because he mumbled, "They took... and destroyed..." and no more words were heard from his mouth. Doomguy always wondered what bizarre things people do to satisfy their needs, but he's almost never come across humans sabotaging other humans just because. He clenched his hands moderately at the thought. Doomguy stood back up from his knees and out of the corner of his eye he saw something red. Shiny. It was under flaming planks of wood. He stepped over to the thing to uncover it. Once uncovered it turned out to be... his Heavy Cannon! Well, finding THAT gun has been pretty easy the past few times he's lost his weapons. But after seeing the turnout of a burnt village, today wasn't so bad after all.

He stepped outside pulling the bolt back and letting go. Ah, what a good feeling it is to have a new weapon, it never gets old. Just as he was starting to settle, he could hear a sprinting noise. Hmm, could just be some new hunters discovering the wreck-

The Slayer reacted instantly to some man with a ponytail, scars on his chest, yellow eyes, and a sickly smile slash at him, and he blocked with the Heavy Cannon. The dude just jumped off of the Slayer's just and proceeded to fire at him with bullets which the Slayer blocked his face from any impact with his right gauntlet. Not like some regular bullets could dent this thing. After that guy stopped firing he ran straight at him with HEAVY intent to damage, or kill. Each attack the due sent was met with a dodge or a block by the Slayer but this guy just kept laughing and laughing with each strike that touched something. Just what was wrong with this guy?

Not dwelling on the obvious psychopathy this man had, it was some time before the Slayer did some attacks of his own. In a short stalemate Doomguy brought his Doomblade out and dashed toward this guy. The stranger must've dealt with people faster than him before because his slash towards his head was pretty fast, but it was blocked by his armblades. Both of them. But Doomguy noticed that his arms started to wobble like he hasn't dealt with people stronger than him. Overpowering him with strength will be his plan until further notice.

Doomguy dashed and attacked again, but now this guy was sliding around him like Michael Jackson but he did more drugs than MJ. He was going to need to use his weapons, cause this guy was faster than he thought. So much for overpowering, but Doomguy's first option was his combat shotgun. If he wanted to get close then he would eat buckshot.

In the middle of an attack sent by his adversary for the moment, he quickly reached behind his back and out came his shotgun. Once Doomguy pointed the barrel at the guy's face, he disappeared again! He's fast as fuck! But Doomguy can use his brains. Since his weapons didn't hurt him he waited to shoot three sticky bombs at his feet. He had the luck that the guy he was fighting didn't know what evolved type of shotgun he carries. Doomguy felt the murderous eyes look at him and he heard rapid footsteps behind him. Now was the time.

One, two, three...

And with that, the guy was knocked back a bit far, but far enough for the Slayer's ice bomb to shatter and freeze at least some part of his leg. The dude watched the Slayer run at him at full speed so unfortunately he had to reveal his trump card and break the ice with his scorpion tail before tragic damage could be taken.

Scorpion tail? Doomguy thought. Since when did a planet hold half-furries? Must've been one that was not in ownership of Argenta, because it was not clear to him. The dude was ready to get back in action immediately after he broke the ice. The two ran forward at each other again, and after a minute or two Doomguy noticed that he was primarily using the tail to attack the arms and the rest of his attacks just did whatever. If he was aiming at the skin with the tail and he has a Scorpion tail, does that mean he has venom inside of his tail? There was only one way to find out. Doomguy was going to let that guy stab him with the tail. Then he had another plan in mind.

Doomguy put on the image that he was getting worn out and tired, it's not like the dude he's fighting was going to fall for his trap when Doomguy's stamina has not been affected. The Slayer's attacks started getting sloppier and sloppier until he had his arms down. That excited the other guy plenty. So he sprinted at full speed shooting the guns on his armblades running around him. Doomguy was forced to make a sloppy block. The man jumped to the left, right, then got up real close and stabbed Doomguy's arm, with his tail.

Gotcha.

Doomguy immediately threw away the weak and tired persona of his and grabbed the tail. The other dude had a worried look on his face and started shouting "L-Let go!". The Slayer put on one of his rage inducing faces and made the guy look at him with fear. He stopped laughing. Doomguy lifted up his other arm, stretched his fingers, and Blood Punched him right in the stomach. The tail was ripped off and the other guy was sent flying into a burnt building. Now for the finishing touch...

Doomguy walked into the building. The dude he was fighting was completely paralyzed, unable to move. He was on the ground and raised his head to see the Slayer at the doorframe. Doomguy kept walking, tail in hand, and stopped right at his head. Doomguy unsheathed his armblade again, and forced open the mouth of the dude on the floor, but not too open that his jaw gets ripped off. Just right. After that he lifted his foot on to the dude's chest, and forcefully put the tail of the guy into his own mouth, and squeezed. Doomguy watched the tail grow thinner and thinner while the guy on the floor was forced to swallow. After it was completely empty he tossed the tail away and watched. The guy hacked and coughed purple liquid out again, and again, and again, and again. Vigorous coughing over and over. Doomguy is watching this man die and the man on the floor was forced to watch Doomguy's face, driven with anger on it. The last thing he saw was the red mark on his face. The same mark he saw at his queen's castle while watching the news the night Beacon fell.

The Mark of the Beast.